28th and 29th June
Nice and sunny again through the 28th but with
a brisk, chilly NE breeze to take the edge off but there was plenty of interest
spread through the day with the undoubted highlight a cracking adult PACIFIC GOLDEN
PLOVER found mid-afternoon in the
standing stone field with the first decent arrival of 97+ Golden Plovers of the
autumn – they are becoming a bit of speciality here, as its the 11th
North Ronaldsay record!
Pacific Golden Plover
There
were now 3 Red-necked Phalaropes busily
feeding away on Gretchen while other wader counts included 102 Knot, 23 Dunlin,
33 Bar-tailed Godwit and 151 Turnstone but other birds of note were thin on the
ground with just the Black-throated
Diver again in Nouster, a Heron and 4 Collared Doves of note. A recently fledged juvenile Dunlin in Loch
Park became only the second confirmed breeding for the island (after the first
in 2015) – although it was a bit galling that we failed to find the nest or the
chicks when they were younger!
Still
sunny in the morning of the 29th but the wind was even more brisk
and even more chilly and brought persistent rain by mid-afternoon; the 3 Red-necked Phalaropes were still
showing very well on Gretchen, Golden Plover showed a slight increase up to 115
and the distinctive dark phase Arctic Skua with the notch in her wing hatched
two tiny, fluffy chicks – hopefully they can avoid all the marauding Bonxies.
Red-necked Phalaropes
Little fledged Dunlin
We managed to round up the Shelduck brood on Gretchen! photos Simon Davies
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